Yahoo News Morning mail: Trump suggests election delay, Australia's deadliest day, Polynesia's Mean Girls
Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 31 July.
Top stories
Donald Trump has proposed via tweet that November’s presidential election be delayed until people can “properly, securely and safely vote”, despite electoral experts clarifying that the president has no unilateral power to change the date of any elections, which are enshrined in law. Facing declining poll numbers, bad economic news and the report that the US’s coronavirus death toll had passed 150,000, Trump claimed that mass mail-in voting could lead to “the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history”, but even loyalists such as Marco Rubio and Lindsay Graham quickly distanced themselves from the comments, with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell saying the election date was “set in stone”.
Australia has suffered its deadliest day from the coronavirus with 13 deaths recorded, as the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, announced 723 new cases across the state on Thursday. One Melbourne aged care home, Epping Gardens, has had 120 people test positive for Covid-19. Family members of those affected describe the facility as being in a state of “chaos”. Potts Point in Sydney has fast become a virus hotspot. Locals tell Guardian Australia they’re “very worried” New South Wales could follow Victoria. Scott Morrison has declared there are “no golden tickets” out of the pandemic, admitting that “some days, the virus wins”. Meanwhile, the Queensland human rights commission released a statement expressing concern about the widespread publication of the personal details of two young women accused of breaching coronavirus restrictions. The “naming and shaming” of the two women, who allegedly returned to Queensland from Victoria without self-isolating and later tested positive to Covid-19, was also criticised by Australia’s acting chief medical officer.
The coronavirus could set back Latin America and the Caribbean by a decade, according to a UN and World Health Organisation report, which predicts poverty will engulf an extra 45 million people across the region. The US has suffered its worst economic quarter since the second world war, with the nation’s GDP contracting by nearly one-third, while both Spain and Japan have recorded their highest daily tallies of new Covid-19 cases.
Australia
Multinational mining giant Glencore has been listed as a “project partner” of a coal-fired power station in north Queensland, that was awarded a $3.3m federal grant and has previously been billed as an Indigenous-led project.
The fatal decision to allow the Ruby Princess to disembark in Sydney in March reportedly came after an Australian Border Force officer confused negative test results for the flu, instead of coronavirus, inquiry documents have revealed.
Thousands of Australians could be facing fines of up to $12,600 for inappropriately accessing their superannuation, under a pilot program launched by the Australian Tax Office to reduce a $13bn blowout in the early access scheme.
The world
Twenty-three million people globally could be exposed to coastal flooding over the next three decades, with Bangladesh, West Bengal, south-eastern China and Australia’s north especially at risk as one-in-100 year floods become one-in-10 year events.
Three million Hong Kong citizens could be denied the right to leave the former autonomous territory, after China announced it would not recognise the British national (overseas) passport as a legal travel document.
Thirty-three Russian mercenaries have been arrested in Belarus, with the nation’s president, Alexander Lukaschenko, claiming the men were sent on a mission of destabilisation, akin to those reported in Ukraine in 2014, ahead of upcoming elections.
One of South America’s major wetland ecosystems is facing “completely out of control” fires, with a wall of flames raging for several months along the Paraná delta grasslands in Argentina.
Recommended reads
They’re Polynesia’s answer to Mean Girls. But the one-time cameo trio from Baby Mama’s Club aren’t to be assessed through a dominant paradigm lens – instead doing it “our own way” from New Zealand to New York. “We wrote our own shit, we produced it, we directed it, we performed it, our commissioners were both brown women: from the top down was brown women and brown people,” said Hanelle Harris.
She was the demure farmer’s daughter from Devon, he was the vainglorious and ruthless colonial man on the make. But within the parameters of conventional femininity, Elizabeth Macarthur rewrote her own script. It’s a story that fascinated acclaimed author Kate Grenville, who retells it in her novel A Room Made of Leaves.
This week’s joint US-Australia statement of condemnation hasn’t been well received in Beijing. But for all its bluster, China’s response has been measured, writes Natasha Kassam. “While Beijing’s response has been far from conciliatory, it could indicate a more nuanced view of the US-Australia relationship.” And there could just be wriggle room for the continent nation outside of the lens of great power competition.
Listen
The Portland protests. After nearly 50 nights of protest following the killing of George Floyd, demonstrations in the Oregon city of Portland were losing steam. Until Donald Trump sent in the federal troops. But has his attempt to politicise the issue backfired? Chris McGreal reports from the state.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
Seven hundred days after career- and life-threatening injuries, North Melbourne player Majak Daw appears set this weekend to make an incredible return. And while sport abounds with stories of redemption and return from physical setbacks, the resilience Daw embodies makes this one of the great comeback stories, writes Rohan Connolly.
The controversial bid by a Saudi-Arabian led consortium to buy Newcastle United has been abandoned, with the team behind the £300m offer to purchase one of England’s oldest and most prestigious clubs announcing its withdrawal after months of protracted negotiations by the Premier League.
And, it wouldn’t be Friday without David Squires ... on a battle royale in the Fox Sports commentary booth.
Media roundup
British company Cambridge Assessment has secured a five-year $5.5m deal to oversee selective school exam processes, writes the Sydney Morning Herald, in a move that’s set to shake up the private coaching industry. Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, has urged the federal government to withdraw its support for Clive Palmer’s bid to abolish the state border, reports the West Australian, with 200,000 residents supporting a petition against the move. And, a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Adelaide scientists has become the first in Australia to be proven safe in phase one trials, reveals the Australian, with phase two trials planned for September.
Coming up
The Senate inquiry into Centrelink’s robodebt program will hear evidence from Services Australia and the Department of Social Services.
The bushfire royal commission hearing will examine barriers to small business recovery, access to and coordination of recovery support, charities and wildlife recovery issues.
And if you’ve read this far …
They call it 0601. But this one tiny fledgling is being seen as a beacon of hope for glossy black cockatoo numbers on Kangaroo Island after the region was devastated by deadly bushfires in the summer. And while the fires have devastated the drooping sheoak – the seed cone the black cockatoos feed upon – fledglings like 0601 and 33 others just might see the species’ population bounce back.
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